LOGINJulianI barely saw Dante the next morning. Which was probably for the best.After last night, I wasn’t sure what I would say to him or what he would say to me.“You are alive because I say you are.”The words had followed me upstairs, into bed, and into sleep. They sat heavy in my chest even now, as I stood in the kitchen with a cup of coffee I wasn’t drinking.Dante walked in exactly at 7:12, in his dark suit, black tie, and unreadable expression like nothing had happened.“Your car is outside,” he said.I looked up. “My car?”“The firm sent a driver.”“Right.”I waited, for an apology, an explanation. Something.It never came.“Your badge is in the envelope on the counter,” he said. “Don’t lose it.”Then he walked out, just like that. I stared after him, irritation curling under my skin. Unbelievable.The law firm occupied nearly thirty floors of a glass building downtown. It was tall and polished and slightly intimidating The kind of place where everyone looked expensive and impor
DANTE’S POVBy the time I left the house, Julian was upstairs. I knew because one of the cameras caught him pacing the front of his room twenty-three seconds after I shut the front door.He was restless and curious, already testing the edges of the cage.I watched the feed for another moment from my phone before locking the screen and sliding it back into my pocket.He was safe. That was all that mattered.The black car was already waiting at the curb. Tico stepped out from the driver’s seat the moment he saw me.“Everything clear?” I asked“Yes, sir,” he answered and I got in without another word.The city changed the farther we drove.The quiet, expensive neighborhood Julian had seen was only one face of it. It was like a polished mask. Beneath it, there were older streets, darker ones even. Some buildings looked abandoned from the outside but held more secrets than most people could survive.We stopped in front of a warehouse by the docks. From the outside, it looked dead. The cobw
JULLIAN“Get dressed.”I blinked, looking up from the notes spread across the small desk in my room. “I am dressed.”Dante stood by the door, leaning against the frame like he owned the space, which, technically, he did.“Not for where we’re going.”“And where is that?”“Around.”I frowned. “Around… where?”“The neighborhood,” he answered absent-mindedly.I stared at him for a second, trying to figure out if this was another one of his vague tests.“You’re taking me on a tour?”“Yeah. What does it look like? I’m making sure you don’t get lost.”“I can use Google Maps.”His lips twitched faintly, but it wasn’t quite a smile.“I know.” he paused “But you’re still coming with me.”There it was again, that calm and certain tone. Like arguing wouldn’t change anything.I exhaled, pushing back my chair. “Give me five minutes.”“I’ll give you three.”What is this? The military?The neighborhood looked… normal, too normal to be honest. There were clean streets, quiet buildings, and cars parked
DanteJulian settled in faster than I expected and that should have been a good thing. Except it wasn’t.I stood in the living room with a glass of whiskey untouched in my hand, watching him from across the space without making it obvious. He moved around like he belonged there, opening drawers, adjusting things, and placing his belongings with quiet precision.Most people didn’t do that in a place like this. Not without permission. He paused by the shelf near the window, running his fingers lightly over the spine of a book before sliding it out. He flipped through it briefly, then put it back exactly where he found it. He was careful and observant. He wasn’t just settling in. He was learning.I took a slow sip of my drink, letting the burn settle at the back of my throat.“Do you rearrange everything you touch?” I asked.He didn’t turn immediately. Just adjusted the book slightly, then glanced over his shoulder.“I put it back where it was.”“Did you?”A small frown formed between hi
Jullian.I stood in the middle of my room with an open suitcase on my bed, staring at it like it had personally offended me. Half my closet was already folded inside, my shirts and well-tailored trousers were folded neatly inside the suitcase. I looked around my room for anything that I may be forgetting.My gaze drifted to the window. The curtains swayed slightly with the morning breeze, the sunlight slipped through in soft lines across the floor. Everything felt… normal. In fact, too normal, like nothing had changed, except it had.Dante was back and somehow the air in the house had changed. Why had my mother agreed to let me stay with this dude who had abandoned his family?I exhaled slowly and dragged a hand through my hair. “It’s just an internship,” I muttered to myself. “You’re acting like you’re being exiled.”“Talking to yourself now?” I flinched slightly at my mother’s voice and turned.She leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed loosely and a small smile on her f
DANTE'S POV I pretended to be busy with my car when Orabella came to call me for breakfast. Knowing Aldo, he would still be sour from last night's altercation.“Tell the boy to meet me here once he's had a bath,” I said to Orabella's retreating figure and she nodded.After almost an hour, he was walking through the front door. His hair was wet and some of them clung to the side of his face and his forehead. He wore a t-shirt that clung to his frame and a pair of well tailored pants. I was leaning on my car like the devil offering a ride.“Mother said…”“Get in the car,” I tossed my keys up and caught them.“Why?” He asked as he went around to the passenger seat.“Come on,” I got in. “You are about to find out how to win.”He slipped into the passenger’s seat and crossed his legs at his ankles. He smelled like fruits and oud with an undertone of vanilla. I wanted to lean in and take a deep breath. He didn't say a word about what happened earlier and I wasn't going to push it.Th







